After a closed session Thursday, Sept. 18, Branch County Commissioners decided to sit down with Batavia Township officials to discuss taxation and conversion to a passive park for 168 acres the county owns on Bater Road.
For decades, the county leased approximately 33 acres of the property for farming. Under state law, when public property is used for commercial purposes, the land is subject to property taxation.
Batavia Township officials have just become aware of the issue and are unsure how to proceed with potentially $30,000 due for the 2024 and 2025 taxes.
The zoned township is unsure of the county’s plan to convert the mostly wooded, sometimes swampy property into a passive park to remove it from the tax rolls.
Administrator Frank Walsh said the board, in a closed session, decided that Chairman Randall Hazelbaker would appoint two commissioners, legal counsel, and Walsh to meet with Batavia officials.
Walsh told commissioners that they must resolve the tax issue before the end of the year or pay taxes for an additional year.
Airport property leases
The Branch County Memorial Airport leases approximately 160 acres of land for farming but does not intend to stop that practice.
Airport Manager Joe Best said Walsh allocated $10,000 per year in the 2026 airport budget to cover taxes for the land around the airport runways, which farmer Mark Barone leases.
Half of the airport farm lease is located in Batavia Township, and the other half is in Coldwater Township.
Best said the current lease is for two annual payments of $1,980 a year.
The manager said he wants the farming to continue.
The farmer can only grow soybeans, hay, or other short crops because any crop around the runways must be low growing.
Corn can’t be grown, “Because you can’t have deer out there,” Best said.
Deer graze cornfields and present the same danger to pilots as they do to vehicles along the roads.
If the airport did not allow farming, it would have to hire someone to cut the grass and maintain the areas around the runways.
Best said the current contractors for the non-farmed areas are paid $20 an hour. The manager said of the current farm lease, “He’s actually saving us money.”
The other commercial operation at the airport in Batavia Township, fixed-base operator Elite Air Services, does pay taxes.
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Branch County to meet with Batavia Township on property issue
Reporting by Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter / Coldwater Daily Reporter
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